


If I could Tell Him

by Miracles_happen



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: And Play Guitar, Angst, Bisexual Will Solace, Campfire, Campfires, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Nico di Angelo, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Language, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, No Smut, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Swearing, jason is a great cousin, reference to Dear Evan Hansen, solangelo, what if will could sing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-07-04 21:19:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15849570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miracles_happen/pseuds/Miracles_happen
Summary: Will is asked to sing a duet at Closing Campfire, and, being the nice guy that he is, he accepts. Nico is definitely not jealous.Set between Blood of Olympus and Trials of Apollo.





	1. Will

**Author's Note:**

> Also read on my [Tumblr](https://miracles-happen.tumblr.com/post/183714732630/if-i-could-tell-him)

Closing Campfire was a big event at Camp Half-Blood. It marked the close of the summer when most of the schools across the U.S. started. That meant that a lot of kids were leaving for months. Only a few, including Will, actually stayed, mainly because going out into the mortal world was too dangerous and would attract monsters. Therefore, Closing Campfire was a night where everyone gathered around the campfire to say goodbye. The night was filled with music, games, and was preceded by a game of capture the flag. 

Which was why Will found himself cornered by a few Aphrodite girls a week and a half before the event. He was on his way out of the infirmary for the day when a few of the girls from Cabin 10 walked with him, having him completely surrounded. One black-haired girl walked up next to him and slid her hand into his. Will proceeded to politely slide his hand out of her grip, leaving the girl to gently brush her forearm against his.

"Hey, Will," the girl said sweetly. "I'm Beatrice, we met once during capture the flag." Will vaguely remembered bumping into someone with her face when he was chasing Nico on the last game.

"Oh, yeah," Will muttered, attempting to quicken the pace, but the girls just sped up with him.

"So, I was thinking," Beatrice continued, and Will hummed to tell her that he was listening, "I'm good at singing, and you're amazing at it, so maybe we could do a duet at Closing Campfire?"

"Yeah, sure. What song?" Will asked, not wanting to be rude to completely dismiss her.

"Um, well, I was thinking of 'If I could Tell Her' from Dear Evan Hansen," she motioned to the girls behind her then handed Will a packet of paper. “You could also play the guitar for it, ‘cause it would sound really cool.” Will sucked in a breath. Did she even know how much she was asking of him?

“Okay, I’ll learn it as soon as possible,” Will said, faking a smile.

“Thanks, I’ll see you at dinner,” she grinned and pecked him on the cheek and ran off with her friends, all of them giggling. 

Will let out an exasperated sigh and walked into his cabin, perching on his bed. He flipped through the packet and skimmed through the lyrics. A few phrases stuck out to him. “She’s everything to me” “You looked really pretty” and of course “I love you” four times. Will signed and flopped to lie down on his bed. Of _course_ it was a love song. And of _course_ Will had been too polite and _agreed_ to the duet. Now he would have to do a love song with a _girl_ in front of Nico di Angelo. Typical.

Will rolled off the bed and changed out of his infirmary shirt. He picked up his Camp Half-Blood shirt from a pile surrounding his bed and fluffed it out when he heard a voice from the entrance of the cabin. 

“Hey, Sunshine,” Nico’s voice called from the doorway. Speak of the devil. He sauntered over and plopped onto Will’s bed. “We’re gonna be late for dinner.” Nico stared at Will’s face, a smug look on his face. Nico coming into Cabin 7 before dinner had become a regular occurrence. Nico surveyed the bed as Will tugged his orange shirt over his head.

“Hey, Nico,” Will responded. Nico picked up the packet of the lyrics. 

“This is Dear Evan Hansen,” Nico stated. Will raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect Nico to know what that was, especially because Will himself barely knew. “And it’s ‘If I Could Tell Her.’” Will thought he heard a hint of sadness in his tone, but suspected that he had just imagined it. 

“Yeah, I’m doing a duet of it at Closing Campfire.” Nico’s frown slightly increased when Will said “duet”

“With who?” Nico asked.

“Just a girl from Aphrodite,” Nico sunk into himself. Will desperately wanted to hug him but knew that Nico hated physical contact with a passion.

“We… We should probably head to dinner,” Nico said and walked out the door, Will following right behind him. What was up with that song?


	2. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Jason have cousin talk (cuz I like to see them as close cousins)

A magical dummy ran at Nico and he parried the attack with his sword. He sidestepped and struck it into the dummy’s side. The dummy went limp and fell. Nico wiped the sweat off his forehead as the dummy took a moment to reconstruct itself. Then Nico fought it again.

On his way to the arena, he had passed Cabin 7 and heard the sound of guitar playing and Will’s voice… playing that song. The song that he was singing with a girl. Which was okay, he didn’t know that Nico liked him, and they were nowhere near a relationship, but Nico couldn’t help but feel jealous of whoever that girl was. Jealous of the fact that she had managed to get Will to like her. Jealous of the fact that she had the talent to be able to sing with Will. Jealous of the fact that she had the confidence to be with Will in front of the entire camp. Jealous of the fact that he couldn’t, ever do anything remotely like that…

He saw darkness swallow the dummy and saw it fade into ashes. Nico loosed a breath, stepping back. He heard clapping coming from one of the corners of the arena. He wondered who it was, as the arena was supposed to be empty during meal times. He had decided to skip lunch, wanting to fight out his emotions instead of staring longingly at Will. Nico turned to where the sound came from and was half unsurprised to see that it was Jason.

“I never knew you could do that,” Jason said as he abandoned his spot leaning against the entrance to walk over toward Nico, swinging his gladius aimlessly.

“Neither did I,” Nico said. He wiped his hair from his face. “Why aren’t you at lunch?”

“Piper was doing duties at her table and I dislike third-wheeling with Percy and Annabeth,” Jason explained. He stepped in front of Nico, gladius at the ready. “I was bored, so I wanted to spar.” He motioned for Nico to attack him. Nico rolled his eyes and charged at him with his sword. Jason parried and jumped to hit Nico from above. “So what’s up?” 

Nico rolled to the side and charged at Jason. “Nothing important.” 

Jason blocked the attack and spun to hit Nico’s side. “I’m literally your cousin,” he said, making Nico roll his eyes as he blocked the gladius and went for Jason’s head, “I know when something’s up.” He brought the gladius up to stop the sword and moved it away from his face.

“First of all,” Nico said, blocking Jason’s attempt to hit his side and rolled out of the way. “Though we are _technically_ cousins,” Nico ran toward Jason, sword ready. “No one really pays attention to that.” Jason blocked the sword and the two danced in a deadly sword fight. “That’s why a ton of people date people from other cabins. It would be really awkward, ‘cause Percy and Annabeth are first cousins once removed; Hazel and Frank are, too; you and Piper… aren’t technically related for a little, but--”

“I get the point,” Jason said, his face a pinkish hue. Nico couldn’t tell if that was from the physical exertion or talking about his relationship. Nico grinned. He continued to push Jason backward, Jason barely blocking his attacks. “But I notice that you didn’t deny that you really did have something going on.” Nico felt himself blush, and Jason took that opportunity to take the offense, forcing Nico to continuously block the attacks. “Anything about that Will guy that you were stuck in the infirmary with after Gaea?” Nico clenched his jaw, feeling a burst of anger that came up every time her feelings for Will were brought up.

“Shut up,” he said as he went back onto the offense, hitting Jason again and again, getting out all of his anger toward not being able to be confident enough, his jealousy for that girl who would sing with Will, his fear of coming out and expressing his feelings for that ball of sunshine that he… loved. 

“Hey,” Jason said, his voice sounding distant, “Hey, Nico, breathe. Nico…” his voice was so far away, and Nico’s legs were so tired, all that emotion let out at once had left him so weak… he couldn’t breathe, he could barely see Jason shaking him, the world was spinning, spinning, spinning, like a top, but the top had to fall eventually, everything had to end somehow… 

He heard Jason call his name one more time before he blacked out.


	3. Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico in the infirmary. Beatrice stops by

Will had just gotten back from lunch and was getting the infirmary cleaned up and ready for patients when he heard someone stumbling in through the back door. He walked quickly to help the person and saw Jason holding Nico in his arms. Will felt a flush of jealousy flood his body, then mentally kicked himself. It was fine, he reminded himself, Jason and Nico were like cousins. There is nothing to be jealous of. 

“What happened?” Will asked, leading Jason over to one of the cots. 

“He kind of just overexerted himself, then passed out,” He laid Nico down gently on the cot, Nico slightly wincing in pain, even unconsciously. Will checked his temperature, noting that it was hotter than normal. He got out an ice pack and pressed it to Nico’s forehead. 

“He’ll be fine, probably just going to be out for an hour or so,” Will said, looking up at Jason. 

“Okay,” Jason said, relaxing a little bit, “I’m going to go, tell me when he’s awake.” Will nodded and watched as he left the Big House. Then he turned to look at the small boy passed out on the bed. His black hair was covering his face, which looked… peaceful. Usually, he looked angry 24/7 but sleeping, Nico was beautifully calm. Will grinned at the sight. 

After a half an hour, no one came into the infirmary, so Will pulled out his guitar to practice the duet he was doing for Closing Campfire. As he sung softly, he started to realize how well the lyrics matched how he felt about Nico. How far away he felt from Nico, how he tried to tell him how he felt, how he loved him. But, like in the song, he was a million worlds apart from the beautiful son of Hades. He played the song a couple times, before hearing a knock on the door. He set down the guitar and walked over to answer it. Figures, it was exactly the person Will did _not_ want to see at that moment.

“Hi, Beatrice,” Will said, his voice devoid of emotion. Honestly, any other person could’ve come to the door and Will would be happy to see them. _Anyone._

“Hi, Will,” she said excitedly. “I heard you singing the song just now. By the way, your voice sounds _amazing._ I was wondering if maybe we could practice together?” Will raised his eyebrows. “Like, now maybe?” Beatrice tried to shoulder her way in but was stopped by Will’s hand pushing her back. 

“I’m actually watching a patient, who will be up anytime now, so later, maybe?” Beatrice looked over Will’s shoulder to the cots.

“I see what’s happening,” Beatrice said, a coy smile playing on her lips. Will felt his cheeks heat up for a second. Could she see that he liked Nico? How? Was it because she was the daughter of Aphrodite that let her see his crush? Will was panicking.

“What… what do you mean?” Will stuttered, sure that his cheeks had at least a pinkish hue. Beatrice just grinned. Behind them, Will heard a soft groan, who he knew was coming from Nico.

“Oh, look, Sleeping Beauty’s awake,” Beatrice commented. She leaned into Will and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. She pulled away after a few seconds, then winked and pranced off. “Bye, Will,” she called.

Will stayed at the door for a little bit, his face twisted in anger and annoyance until he managed to school his features into a calm face and turned around to walk toward Nico. He didn’t need Nico to see him mad. He hoped Nico hadn’t seen the kiss.

He walked toward Nico and crouched at his bedside, pulling Nico’s hair away from his face to see if his temperature was back to normal.

"You okay?" he asked gently. Nico pushed Will’s hand away weakly. So he had seen the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapters. Comment if you want longer chapters or if these are okay.


	4. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico saw the kiss. He promptly ignores Will afterward.

Nico was not jealous. Totally. Most definitely. He was more… annoyed that Will had the decency to kiss his girlfriend right in front of Nico. Not the greatest thing to wake up to. 

And to top that all off, Nico had had a memory dream about his time in Tartarus. **(A/N: Gods, that makes it sound like a prison)** More specifically his run-in with Akhlys, the goddess of misery. He remembered feeling so helpless when he came upon her, and was almost relieved to _actually_ know what was coming, instead of the monstrous horrors coming out of nowhere. He remembered her saying that he was _perfect_. That made sense to Nico, he was possibly the most miserable and depressed person ever. 

And now Nico was pretty sure she was right. He was perfect for the goddess of misery. He was miserable. Will, who he saw as his light at the end of the tunnel, was no longer available at all. He would probably just shut Nico out, now that he had someone way better than Nico (who was he kidding, anyone was way better than himself) to spend is time with, he would just push Nico out. Like everyone else had. Forget that time he had defended Nico in front of Octavian, Will would want nothing to do with Nico, nothing at all… 

“You okay?” he heard Will’s voice say as a hand pushed the hair away from his forehead. As much as Nico wanted to feel that hand on his skin again, he tried to weakly shove it off. Will shouldn’t do anything like that, especially when he had a girlfriend. Nico thought he saw a flicker of hurt flash across Will’s face but knew he was just imagining it.

“I don’t need your help,” Nico snapped and stormed out of the infirmary, even though his lungs screamed at him to go back to bed. He was tired of seeing Will lie to his face constantly.

“Wait, Nico, please,” Nico heard Will call but Nico just ignored him. He saw from the corner of his vision as the newbies all hobbled to the infirmary from the battle arena. _Perfect, now WIll can’t follow me and I can get some peace finally,_ Nico thought as he stormed to his cabin. Once he got to the safety of the dark building, Nico slammed the door behind him. He blasted Panic! At the Disco and My Chemical Romance into his earbuds and practiced his swordwork. 

Will came by after a few hours and told him it was dinner. Nico firmly ignored him.

“Nico, please respond,” Will called, and Nico barely heard him over his music. Although it was sort of their tradition, walking to meals together, Nico was mad at Will. Mad at him for lying to Nico and mad at himself for falling for such a, such a jerk. 

“Just go with your girlfriend,” Nico called back, taking one earbud out. He heard a sigh, then silence, and Nico was sure Will had left. He put the earbud back in and resumed training.

Half an hour later, another knock came to Nico’s door. 

“Go away, Will,” Nico called. But Will came in silently anyway, flicking on the light switch. Nico hissed at the light. The rumor probably was true that Hades’s kids were vampires. Nico turned around to find that it wasn’t Will that had come into his cabin so rudely, but rather Jason. 

“I brought you food,” Jason said, holding out a plate with a cheeseburger and fries, Nico’s favorite. 

“You’re really taking this whole cousin thing way too far,” Nico said, accepting the burger. He was disappointed to find that there was no ketchup, but a second later, Jason handed him a handful of ketchup packets. Nico sat down next to his bed, resting his back against the bed.

“Well, you’re stuck with me,” Jason said, sitting next to Nico, leaning against the bed. He ruffled Nico’s hair and Nico lightly swatted him away. He didn’t like anyone touching his hair. The only people he would let touch his hair without sending to the Underworld for a week were Jason and Will, but Will and Nico weren’t exactly on speaking terms. “Plus, you weren’t at dinner, so I got worried.” Nico stayed silent, focusing intently on his burger. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Nico replied through his burger.

“C’mon it’s got to be something,” Jason said, tilting his head, “you got all mad at training when I brought up whether something was up or not. I have a feeling that it’s about Will, since you got even mad when I brought it up, and look, oh gods you’re blushing.”

“Shut up,” Nico said half-heartedly, mouth still full.

“Beatrice from Aphrodite was being really weird with him today at dinner,” Jason said.

“They’re dating.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Will’s singing a love song with her at Closing Campfire and they kissed in the infirmary.”

“Dang,” Jason commented, staring straight ahead. “And how do you feel about this?”

“I don’t care,” Nico said, digging into his fries. “Why would I care that she had the courage to ask him to sing with her, or the talent, while I’m just here, silently pining over him--” Nico realized that he had just confessed his feelings. Jason did too, from the way he started staring at Nico with a giant grin on his face. “Nope, stop that,” Nico told him, setting down the plate of fries carefully.

“Stop what?” Jason said, grin growing larger.

“That thing where you’re gonna act like my brother or something and give me advice. I don’t want it.” Then Nico did the most mature thing ever and hopped into his bed and hid under the covers.

“You can’t hide from your feelings Nico.” Nico felt Jason sit on the bed. “You got to face them, remember what Eros said.”

“Fuck Eros. Look what he did to me.”

“Look, Nico,” Jason said comfortingly, putting a hand on Nico’s back. “As much as you would like to be the loveless hermit that attacks and hides from all signs of emotion, there’s someone with golden blonde hair waiting for you to get your shit together and tell him you love him.”

“He doesn’t like me.”

“Bullshit. He looked constantly uncomfortable at dinner and looked really sad when he came back from getting you to come to dinner. I’ve never seen an Apollo kid look so sad, they’re usually balls of sunshine and happiness.” Nico laughed lightly. He thought that way about Will all the time. “Look, if you feel that bad, we can just go to Closing Campfire together tomorrow.” Wordlessly, Nico got out of the covers and hugged Jason. He felt the other boy stiffen under him, then slowly hugged Nico back. Nico wasn’t that big of a hugger, but he had to admit, it felt kind of nice.

It was going to be quite the Closing Campfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course Nico likes P!atd and MCR.


	5. Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will sings the song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highly recommend listening to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7h7c_L_Yp4  
> The lyrics will make a lot more sense if you know the song than if you just read it.

Will sat on one of the steps close to the campfire in the amphitheater, tuning his guitar. It was starting to get dark, so people started filing into the steps above him. He had spent the entire day rehearsing the song with Beatrice was going to be thankful when the event was over. Will hadn’t seen Nico all day and doubted that he would come to Closing Campfire based on the comment he made before dinner the day before. He could see how Nico thought that Beatrice was his girlfriend. At dinner, she had practically draped herself all over him and kissed him every other minute. Now Nico was acting weirdly… jealous, almost. Before Will had any time to think over this concept, Beatrice came over and sat on his lap. 

“Hey, Willy-woo,” she cooed, placing her hands around his neck.

“Beatrice,” Will said firmly, seeing Nico standing still in the middle of the steps from the corner of his eye. What was he doing here? Just seeing him there made Will want to get Beatrice the fuck off him _right now._ “I need to tune my guitar.” Then he moved Beatrice off his lap and proceeded to tune his guitar. Beatrice scoffed and stalked off to join the other Aphrodite girls higher up on the steps. Will looked around for Nico again and couldn’t find him. Will made a face and continued tuning his guitar. 

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,” Chiron called from the stage, ending the chatter that had arose in the crowd from hundreds of demigods waiting for the beginning of Closing Campfire. “Welcome to Closing Campfire.” The audience erupted in clapping and cheers. 

And so the performances began. Skits performed by various cabins, songs sung by mainly Apollo people, and stories told by satyrs. Throughout the performances, Will looked for Nico, but the crowd was too dense. Some of the younger campers began filing out, one by one every few minutes. Soon, it was Will’s turn. He stood up, guitar in hand, and sat on the edge of the stage, right in front of the campfire. Beatrice pranced up and sat right next to Will. He was thankful for the guitar obstructing her from sitting in his lap again. Will searched the crowd and quickly found Nico sitting higher up on the steps. He was caught staring when Beatrice lightly slapped his thigh. Will hurriedly started strumming.

“He thought you were awesome,” Will said. Gods, how far away from the truth that statement was for Beatrice but so right for Nico.

“He thought I was awesome? My brother?” Beatrice asked, snapping Will back to reality.

“Definitely!” Will said hurriedly.

“How?” 

“Well, he said, there's nothing like your smile, sort of subtle and perfect and real. He said, you never knew how wonderful that smile could make someone feel,” Will started singing, staring directly at Nico. He realized how perfectly the song went with how he felt about Nico. The cute little smile he had whenever he thought Will wasn’t looking. Will started staring at the rest of the crowd, worried someone would notice how much he was staring at Nico. “And he knew, whenever you get bored, you scribble stars on the cuffs of your jeans. And he noticed that you still fill out the quizzes that they put in those teen magazines. But he kept it all inside his head, what he saw he left unsaid. And though he wanted to, he couldn't talk to you, he couldn't find the way.” The lyrics started reminding Will more and more of how he felt about Nico, so he resumed staring right at the boy, trying to make him understand how much he cared about him. “But he would always say if I could tell her, tell her everything I see, if I could tell her how she's everything to me, but we're a million worlds apart, and I don't know how I would even start. If I could tell her. If I could tell her.” 

“Did he say anything else?” Beatrice asked. Will had honestly forgotten she was there, lost in how beautiful and amazing Nico looked.

“About you?” Will said hurriedly, praying those were the right lyrics. 

“Never mind, I don't really care anyways,” Beatrice answered. **(A/N: Fishing for compliments like)**

“No, no, no just... no, no he said, he said so many things, I'm just, I'm trying to remember the best ones so, um,” Will replied, still staring at her and praying he was saying the right lyrics. Oh, how deeply he wished he could return to staring at Nico. Alas, it was the dialogue portion of the song, the part Will hated most of all, where he had to look at Beatrice’s face the whole time. “He thought you looked really pretty, er, it looked pretty cool when you put indigo streaks in your hair.” Will wanted to vomit. He had just called Beatrice pretty. Ugh.

“He did?” Beatrice giggled. What a fake laugh, ew. Will forced out a laugh

“And he wondered how you learned to dance like all the rest of the world isn't there.” Finally, he could look away as he got to the chorus, instead settling on Nico’s face once more. He looked almost… angry? “But he kept it all inside his head, what he saw he left unsaid. If I could tell her, tell her everything I see. If I could tell her how she's everything to me.” Will poured everything he felt for Nico into the song, the months of silently pining after the adorable boy, how he thought that Nico was the cutest boy on the planet. “But we're a million worlds apart, and I don't know how I would even start. If I could tell her. If I could tell her. But what do you do when there's this great divide?” And it did seem like there was a sort of divide between Will and Nico, a sort of awkward tension that kept them from spending too much time together or going into detail about how they felt. Sure, Nico probably didn’t like Will in that way, there was a divide between them that stopped Will from really telling Nico how much he loved him.

“He just seemed so far away,” Beatrice sang, and Will just ignored her.

“And what do you do when the distance is too wide?”

“It's like I don't know anything.” Again, she was ignored.

“And how do you say I love you,” Will sang, timid at first. He was still staring straight at Nico, singing the lyrics to him. Will found that he meant it, he really did love Nico. “I love you.” Will was more confident that time. “I love you,” he proclaimed. “I love you,” he said softly, as he would’ve if it had been a confession. “But we're a million worlds apart, and I don't know how I would even start. If I could tell her. If I could…” Will ended with the last strum of his guitar, grinning at Nico. He thought he saw Nico blush, but it could’ve been a trick of the campfire light that was barely illuminating his face. He just realized that he had confessed his feelings and grinned even more. 

Then, suddenly, Beatrice grabbed his face and kissed him. He recoiled quickly, and she let go. Will searched the crowd for Nico, not finding him in the spot he was seconds before, nor anywhere else in the crowd. Then, he made the second stupidest decision of his life and kissed Beatrice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might add more than 6 chapters idk  
> I kinda took this chapter in a different direction than originally planned


	6. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico runs away.

Nico was running. He was running as far as he possibly could. As far away from the cocky, beautiful, lying motherfucking player that was Will Solace. First, he decides to fuck with Nico’s emotions by staring at him throughout the whole performance. That sunshine boy with his full attention on him made Nico blush harder than he ever had before. Nico had only stayed for his performance but had stayed rooted to the spot after Will finished, trapped under his soft blue eyes. 

Then Beatrice kissed him. And Nico got the fuck out of there. It wasn’t that hard. Most of the little kids were already leaving, and Nico was almost as small as them, so no one gave him a second glance, except for Jason, as they watched Beatrice and Will make out. Nico made it out of the crowd and to the treeline before he looked back. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't wrong, that Will really did have feelings for Beatrice and not himself, as Jason thought. Nico watched as Will gave a puzzled look to the crowd and then promptly resumed kissing Beatrice. 

“Alright, break it up,” Nico heard Chiron say after a moment, chuckling. He watched as Beatrice was the one that pulled back, Will still leaning in for another kiss. Nico thought he would hear a roaring in his ears when Will rejected him. He didn’t. He only heard silence, except for the rapid beating of his heart. 

He didn’t even hear Jason come up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. Nico turned around quickly and threw him on the ground, willing skeletons and darkness to envelop the son of Jupiter. 

“Don’t test me right now,” Nico hissed. He then heard people running up to surround him. He whipped to face the crowd, tendrils of darkness gathering around his arms, ready to lash out.

“Nico,” Will said as he shoved through the crowd to get in the front. His eyes were searching and confused. Nico felt himself relax just in his presence. Then Beatrice came up and thread her hand with his. Nico immediately tensed up again. He started shaking, unable to control himself. He had to get out on there right now.

“This is your fault,” he hissed at the pair and shadow-traveled a couple miles away. Then he started running. He knew Jason could catch up soon, the skeletons would release him soon and he could fly. He would no doubt start looking for Nico as soon as possible, and only shadow-traveling could get away from him. So Nico made a few jumps to nowhere in particular, except miles ahead. After an hour of running, he stopped to catch his breath, leaning against a building and crying. He barely noticed someone come up to him and pick him up, leading him into a bed and tucking him in wordlessly.

\---

Nico blinked, struggling to open his eyes to the blinding light. He sent a block of darkness at the source, effectively dimming the light so Nico could open his eyes. He was surprised to find that difficult and tiring, before remembering the events of the night before. Nico groaned, sitting up and looking around the room. He vaguely recognized the ancient structure. It definitely wasn’t his room at Camp Half-Blood, but…

“You could’ve just taken down the curtain,” Reyna commented, walking into the small room with a tray of pancakes. She set it down in front of Nico on the bed and sat in a stool next to it. Nico felt a wave of emotions crash over him. Maybe it was the act of sitting down to comfort him or the fact that she had brought his favorite breakfast from Camp Jupiter or that she had let him stay here or maybe it was just the build-up of an emotional rollercoaster from the past week that Nico was not prepared for that made him surge forward and hug Reyna. She stumbled back at first, but quickly reciprocated the hug, rubbing Nico’s back comfortingly. Nico started crying into her shoulder. He had been doing a lot of that recently.

“Hey,” Reyna whispered. “What’s wrong?” Nico pulled back, wiping away his tears.

“The number of times Jason has asked me that in the past week,” Nico replied, voice cracking. He leaned over to grab the food tray and sat cross-legged, leaning against the wall the bed was pushed against.

“Speaking of,” Reyna said, leaning forward to balance on her elbows, “do you want me to tell him you’re here?”

“No,” Nico answered through a mouthful of pancakes. He swallowed before continuing. “He’s gonna give me the whole cousin speech, and I’m not in the mood.” He had another bite. “Did you make these yourself?” He pointed his fork at Reyna. 

“No, the cooks did. I’m a terrible chef,” Reyna replied. “Besides, you’re avoiding the question. What’s wrong?” Nico stayed silent. “Does it have to do with that Will Solace that you’re in love with?” Nico tilted his head back in frustration.

“How is it that everyone knows about that?”

“Because it’s really obvious that you like each other in that way.” Nico maliciously stabbed another piece of pancake. 

“Well, it’s one-sided.” He shoved the giant piece into his mouth.

“Impossible, he obviously likes you. He stares at you all the time.”

“He has a girlfriend now.”

“Well, he could be bisexual--”

“I don’t care that he’s dating a _girl,_ I care that he’s dating someone that’s not me.” Nico sighed. “I’m right here, waiting for him to… to sweep me off my feet like a Prince Charming, because he’s sappy like that, and he just ignores me and sings a love song with a girl and the next minute, they’re making out in front of me and the whole camp while I’ve made it so _obvious_ that I like him, and--”

“No, you haven’t,” Reyna interrupted. “You may think that he sees you mooning over him, and yeah, Jason and I obviously see it, but you and he are probably the most oblivious people on the planet. I’m sure this is just a mix-up and he’s wondering why you ran away from him.” Nico gaped at her for a moment before sobbing uncontrollably.

“I’m such a bad person,” Nico sobbed. Reyna scooted over to sit next to him, pulling him into a hug.

“It’s all gonna be fine,” she said comfortingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's gonna be way longer than 6 chapters 'cause I still got a lot left in this story. Spoiler: a lot of angst.  
> Thanks for all of your comments, they give me joy to read.


	7. Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is sad

Will was going insane. It had started when he saw Nico in the middle of the crowd. Everything that had been going through his head before he kissed Beatrice had been flipped upside down. Nico hadn’t run away, just had gotten out of the crowd to see from afar. Why he had done that, Will had no idea. Seeing Nico under such distress had snapped something inside Will. He wanted to comfort the boy as soon as possible. Nico had immediately relaxed upon seeing Will, and he had some hope that he could potentially apologize for the kiss and tell Nico how he felt. 

Then Beatrice came and ruined it. Her hand felt like fire in Will’s hand, but Will was too focused on Nico to take his hand out. It had immediately set Nico on edge. Will remembered how tense he had gotten in a matter of seconds, shaking uncontrollably. It made Will want to give him a hug and comfort him with a cheeseburger and fries. 

“This is your fault.” And he was completely right. It was Will’s fault that Nico had disappeared. Will had been stupid and had jumped to conclusions and kissed Beatrice. He had made Nico so angry and had caused him to run away. 

As soon as Nico shadow-traveled away, the darkness and skeletons pinning down Jason had crumbled and he coughed as he sat up. Will saw Piper, his girlfriend, rush up to him and help him up. Jason got up quickly and flew off. “I’ll get him back,” he said quickly to Will before flying off, winking. Will blushed. Was his crush that obvious?

“Alright,” Chiron said, drawing the crowd’s attention. “Jason will find Nico, and meanwhile, let us continue the Closing Campfire.” Then the crowd slowly returned to their seats in the amphitheater. Will stayed rooted to the spot, staring at the space where Nico had shadow-traveled away as if he could will Nico to return just by staring at the spot. Beatrice started tugging his arm.

“Willy-woo, let’s go back to the campfire,” she cooed. Will snatched his arm out of her grip.

“Nico was right, this is your fault,” he replied, backing away from her. He knew that wasn’t what Nico meant, but he just needed a reason, any reason, to get away from Beatrice, to get away from everyone. So Will ran. He ran all the way to his cabin, collapsing on his bed. Thankfully, no one was there, save for the sleeping little kids, so Will stood up and paced on his own.

Pretty soon, a couple of his half-siblings walked in. Austin stopped as soon as he saw that Will was the only one in the cabin. 

“Something wrong?” he asked, setting down his beloved saxophone. Will nodded solemnly. “Wanna talk about it?” That was the thing about Austin and most Apollo kids. They weren’t really pushy. They were just one big happy family that accepted each other and respected boundaries, specifically when it came to personal things. All of that went away during pillow fights, but that’s a different story.

“No,” Will croaked out. “I just kinda want to be alone.”

“Sorry, dude, but Closing Campfire just ended. People’ll be coming in any second. Want me to hold them off?”

“Nah, I’ll just go somewhere else.” Then Will hopped out of the back window and hurried behind the cabins to Cabin 13. Along the way, he saw the mob of kids headed back to their cabins. He saw Beatrice and her gang of Aphrodite kids walk by. Will was sure to hide behind the cabins. He was very jealous of Nico’s ability to shadow-travel.

“And then he just blew me off,” he heard Beatrice complained. “He said that it was my fault.” She scoffed. “I mean, it really wasn’t. He kissed me back.” Then she was out of earshot, and Will rolled his eyes. She was right, though. He had been the one to kiss her back. It was really his fault that Nico had run away. Will snuck the rest of the way to Cabin 13 and slipped in through the front door, as there were no windows. Once he got inside, he relaxed. The cabin was away from everyone else.

Will flipped on a switch, illuminating the room. It was quite small, definitely smaller than the Apollo cabin, most likely because Hades was in the Underworld. The entire cabin was decorated like a nest for vampires, as the demigods apparently thought that Hades’s kids were vampires. Nico’s bunk had been decorated and personalized to be very… Nico. A stack of vinyl records from artists like Panic! At the Disco and My Chemical Romance were stacked next to a vintage record player and a box of Myth-o-magic cards on the desk next to the bed, which was coffin shaped. There was a chest under the desk that appeared to contain Nico’s clothes. There were numerous hoodies thrown on the top that Will rarely saw him wear. He picked up the first one he saw, a regular black hoodie and shrugged it on. It was kind of small on him, Nico was much shorter than him, but it was warm, cozy, and most importantly, smelled like Nico. It sort of felt like Nico himself was hugging him. This had only occurred once when Nico was under intense duress. He had had a nightmare and had shadow-traveled into Will’s bed. It had awoken Will up immediately, he was a light sleeper, being the head counselor and needing to help kids in his cabin that had nightmares, and Nico had wordlessly snuggled up to him and hugged him tightly. It had been so sudden that Will didn’t do anything for a few minutes, unable to register the fact that Nico felt so safe with him that he came to him. 

“Are-are you okay?” Will had asked gently, putting his arms around Nico carefully. Nico had just shaken his head and snuggled closer into Will. “What’s wrong?”

“Nightmare,” Nico had muttered into Will’s chest, barely above a whisper. 

“Do… do you need me to do anything?” Will remembered being so helpless in that situation. Sure, the kids in his cabin had had nightmares and were shaken, but not as much as Nico was in that moment. Will knew that Nico had been through so much, so much material to be used in a nightmare. Will couldn’t even fathom how Nico could go through it. 

“Stay,” Nico had whispered. Will had huffed out a laugh. Of course, he would stay. Not just because it was his cabin, but he would stay with Nico for days if he could. He would make sure Nico felt safe and loved for as long as it took. The next morning, Will had woken up to an empty bed. Nico had left, probably shadow-traveled back to his cabin. Because that what Nico did. He ran away from all of his problems. He put up a barrier around his heart, blocking out all signs of emotion. Just like tonight, when he had run away. Will just wondered what he was running away from.

Will was up all night pacing, waiting for Jason to return, remembering everything about Nico and beating himself up because of it. The next morning, Jason did come back at breakfast.

“Nico’s at Camp Jupiter,” he said breathlessly, crash landing at the pavilion while everyone was eating breakfast. Both Piper and Will had rushed to him, helping him up, “Reyna…. Iris-messaged me… said he was… said he was over there… and that I should… that I should go.” He leaned over to catch his breath. Piper sat him down on a nearby bench. 

“You can’t go in your condition,” Piper chided him.

“Will will go with me,” Jason responded.

“I will?” Will asked at the same time Piper asked: “he will?” Will shook his head. “I’m the last face he’ll want to see.” Jason grinned.

“Actually, you’re probably the only face he wants to see.” 

“How will you be getting there?” Chiron asked. The three teens looked at him, all of them unaware that he was there through the whole conversation.

“Yeah, you can’t fly in your condition,” Piper added.

“We’ll just take the Labyrinth,” Jason said.

“We’ve barely started mapping it,” Chiron replied sternly.

“No better time to test than the present,” Jason joked.

“What’s your take on this?” Piper asked Will. 

“I’m not doing anything but wallow in my own sorrow here, so sure,” Will responded, surprised at how depressed and emo he sounded. 

“Great, just grab your weapons and meet me at Zeus’s Fist.” Then the son of Jupiter stood up and sauntered out of the pavilion, Piper staring incredulously after him.

After half an hour of packing a backpack with arrows and bandages and grabbing his bow, Will met Jason and Piper at Zeus’s Fist. Piper gave Jason a good luck kiss before he and Will jumped into the Labyrinth. Will willed his hand to glow as they started the journey, illuminating the corridor ahead. 

“Didn’t know you could do that,” Jason commented.

“I can only do it in moments of intense emotion,” Will replied.

“What are you feeling now?”

“Guilt, worry, stress.” He felt guilty about failing Nico and kissing Beatrice, worry for how Nico was doing at the moment and--

“Stress about walking with your crush’s cousin?”

“How did you know? Did someone tell you?” The glow in Will’s hands shown brighter.

“No, it’s just really obvious that you like each other.”

“It’s not mutual--” Will started before hearing a rumbling ahead. He nocked an arrow on his bow and saw Jason ready his sword as a chimera ran at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is way longer than I thought it would be. Also, I didn't... edit this so that's why it's kinda shitty. Also, it could... not be a chimera, that was just the first creature that came to mind.  
> I might kill off Jason, idk, I don't like his character that much, so...  
> I like P!atd too much, as you can tell from this chapter and chapter 4.  
> This story has gone way off the plan I had originally set 3 months ago, so that's great. 👍  
> Thanks again for the comments, they give me life and have really motivated me to continue writing this story so thank you to everyone who has commented <3


	8. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will makes it to New Rome. Fluff and angst.

The last thing Nico expected while dining with Reyna in New Rome was to see Jason and Will come bloody and tired and sit at their table. Reyna had taken him out to a burger place and they had sat down on one of the tables outside. After an hour of happily chatting, Jason and Will had walked up and sat down on two extra chairs. They looked exhausted and beat as if they had just come back from a fight.

“That’s my hoodie,” Nico commented at Will. Indeed, he was wearing his hoodie. It was small on him and Will definitely did not own a Panic! At the Disco hoodie. Will stared at him incredulously. “That’s my favorite hoodie.” There were distinct cuts in the sweatshirt

“I’ll get you a new one,” Will breathed, taking a sip from Nico’s cola. The audacity. 

“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” Reyna said, standing up. She motioned for Jason to follow her and together they walked out of the restaurant. Nico stared after them incredulously. The betrayal.

“I’m sorry,” Will started after a moment.

“Yeah, you better be,” Nico said, leaning back and eating some fries. “That’s my favorite hoodie.” Will looked like he was going to say something, but he stayed silent, staring at Nico, a grin spreading across his face. 

“I’m not talking about the hoodie, Nico,” he said after a minute of silence, grin dropping from his face. “I’m sorry about the Beatrice thing.”

“Will…” Nico started. As much as he wanted Will to feel guilty about it, he didn’t want Will to beat himself up over it. He was too much of a good person to get hurt like that.

“No, I really am,” Will interrupted. “It was a really bad idea, letting her worm her way into my life when you were obviously uncomfortable about us being in a relationship.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like you knew I liked you,” Nico cut in, fully expecting Will to ignore and move on. He did not.

“What?” Will said, eyebrows raised.

“You didn’t know that I liked you, so you had every right to be in a relationship,” Nico replied.

“You… you like me?” Will asked, a surprised expression on his face.

“Yeah, didn’t Jason tell you?”

“No, but… but you like me?” Will asked again, seeming to not understand the concept. 

“What were you guys even doing in the Labyrinth if you weren’t talking? Jason loves to talk about how much I’m in love with you,” Nico replied, volume rising.

“Well we were busy fighting a fucking chimera,” Will answered, voice also rising. “So you like me?”

“Of course I like you, dumbass. You’re adorable, with your pretty blonde hair, cute freckles, the way you bite your lip when your thinking, your laugh, your voice, the way you tilt your head to the side when you’re listening to someone, how you’re always willing to help people no matter what you’re doing, how you’re always grinning that obnoxious smile. So yeah, I like you. Feel free to begin rejecting me anything you want.” Nico breathed heavily, eyes closed, all of his emotions laid bare, preparing for the inevitable rejection that was going to occur in 3, 2, 1…

“I like you, too.” Nico’s eyes snapped open. He looked at Will, seeing a small grin on his face, sincerity written all over his expression. “I’ve liked you ever since I met you. When you first started talking, I started thinking, this is the cutest boy I have ever seen. You’re so sarcastic and cynical and so cute, especially when your cheeks start blushing, just like that,” indeed, Nico felt his face heat up, “I wanted to believe that you were getting mad because you were jealous, but I thought it was just wishful thinking. Please don’t shadow-travel away, I know that you like to run away from your emotions, but for once,” Will thread his hands through Nico’s, “I would kind of like you to stay.” Nico started panicking. Reyna and Jason were right, Will did like him. The build-up of emotions started piling up inside of Nico and he got scared, so he did the one thing Will told him not to do, he shadow-traveled. Nico felt the rush of shadow-travel and registered a dark and cool room. He also registered warm hands still gripping his own. “You literally had one job,” Nico heard Will say.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” Nico said, walking back and covering his face. He prepared to shadow-travel again when he felt Will move his hands out of the way, grip his face, and kiss him. It was everything Nico ever wanted and then some. It was falling into an abyss but at the same time being so grounded. It was pancakes in the morning and cheeseburgers in the afternoon. But most importantly, it was Will kissing him. Will, the sweet boy that Nico had been pining over for months. Will, who didn’t care that Nico was the son of Hades. Will, who didn’t care how depressed and broken Nico was. Will, who loved him. Nico leaned into the kiss, wanting it not to end, wanting to show Will exactly how much he felt for him. He wrapped his arms around Will’s neck pulled Will towards him. Will eagerly obliged, bringing his hands around Nico’s waist.

Sometime during the kiss, the door opened and Nico heard Jason yell, “Ew, they’re first cousins once removed.” **(A/N: and then Nico killed him with Underworld-y stuff)** Nico just flipped him off and continued kissing Will. He felt him do the same, and felt a sense of pride and love for him. Nico leaned back to look at the boy. He saw brilliant blue eyes open sleepily.

“Not bad, Solace,” Nico breathed.

“You’re not too shabby yourself, di Angelo,” Will grinned. Nico grinned and nestled himself into Will’s chest. He knew that they would have to sort out the technicalities of their relationship and Will definitely needed to see a healer or something about his wounds, but for now, Nico just wanted to feel sheltered in Will’s embrace and just forget about the rest of the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so tired. I know I should be studying for finals, but might as well finish this.  
> I apologize for how terribly written this is, I'm tired.  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments!!! <3


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